This book starts on a cold, wet, winters afternoon in London when the main character in the story goes home from work early because he is not feeling well, possibly the start of the usual winter flu. By late evening he has a raging temperature and is vomiting continuously, if he had not felt so bad and had any strength in his limbs he would have made his way to the hospital. When he eventually wakes up he finds that his apartment is freezing cold and the central heating is not on, when he gets himself together sufficiently and finds the strength required to go outside he finds dead bodies lying on the street, vehicles are crashed all over the place with dead bodies in some of them and there is no one about anywhere, he goes back inside badly shocked and tries the telephone but it is not working and his mobile gets no answers no matter who he rings including the Police and everywhere there is a complete silence like nothing he has ever experienced before.